The shift in trend has been uncovered by data from Canada Life which also revealed a move away from using money to fund new cars or holidays.

Instead customers were looking to either buy a new property or make home improvements.

Canada Life noticed a ‘dramatic increase’ in people using wealth from their home to buy a property in the second half of the year.

Indeed, in Q1 and Q2 it represented a relatively small percentage of customers at 8% and 6% respectively. However, this more than doubled in Q3 to 16% of loans and soared further in Q4 to 18% of applications.

The lifetime mortgage provider said using equity release to cover essential spending remained the most popular reason for many throughout the year.

Almost half of loans (45%) were used to pay off the mortgage, a quarter (24%) on consolidating existing debts and almost a fifth (18%) on funding day-to-day living.

One of the most popular reasons to release equity in 2020 was to fund home improvements. Two fifths of customers chose to release equity for this reason.

Alice Watson, head of marketing, insurance at Canada Life, said its study of the reasons why people chose to use their property wealth provided an interesting snapshot into the spending priorities of the nation during the pandemic.

She thought the boom in new property purchases was likely to have been fuelled by the stamp duty holiday announced in the summer Budget.

“It is largely unsurprising, that 2020 a year dominated by lockdowns and restrictions has seen a drop in people using equity release to go on holiday,” Watson said.

“While this decline is expected it will be interesting to see whether the rollout of the coronavirus vaccines will lead to the beginning of a resurgence in travel.

“The popularity of home improvements is also particularly fitting for the year that many of us stayed home, within our own four walls.

“Over this incredibly volatile year the equity release industry has proven itself to be flexible, with products that can be used to fit a variety of purposes.

“The world will continue changing but people will always want to feel in control of their retirement and use their overall wealth to secure the financial futures they aspire to have.

“This is where advisers, with a holistic view of the retirement market, can help their clients plan for and achieve that future.”